Pounce
by Cougar'sCatnip
Summary: Inspired by Joidianne4eva's Rattlesnake Smile. This is a series of snippets set in Jake and Carlos' childhood. Gen, kidfic, unapologetic fluff. If you haven't read Rattlesnake Smile you need to both to understand mine and because it is wonderful. :) You can find it here. h t t p : / archiveofourown ( dot ) org/works/510473/chapters/899311
1. Chapter 1

**Pounce **

A slight sound, just the barest shiver of a rustle, caught Carlos' attention. He froze in place, tiny ears swiveling forward and cupping to catch the sound. His nose quivered and his whiskers fanned out to identify any scent on the breeze. Cautiously placing each paw, he eased forward silently, crouching low to the ground as he stalked his prey. The tip of his tail twitched echoed by his nose and he shifted his weight from foot to foot as he prepared to pounce. He choked down the urge to chitter; concerned that any sound he made would alert his cunning prey and allow it to escape. Shoving hard with his back legs he launched himself through the bush and landed squarely, bouncing on the rubbery body coiled at the base of the plant. He came back down with a squall of triumph at the hiss of disgust his opponent emitted as Carlos pranced upon his bondmate's coils.

Jake shivered as he shifted into human form, his blue eyes twinkling with mischief. Suddenly Cougar was in his lap and Jake wrapped his arms around his friend flipping him on his back, while Cougar's outsized paws scrambled for a foothold. Jake tickled Carlos' tummy making his bondmate squirm and bat at his hands with velveted paws. He giggled merrily and shifted his attention to the itchy spot right behind Carlos' ears.

Carlos flipped himself over and kneaded Jake's leg for a moment before he curled up. Cuddling against Jake, he closed his eyes in contentment, a soft purr rumbling through his chest as Jake scratched behind his ears and under his chin.


	2. Chapter 2

**Hide and Seek **

Jodi tucked her head down and ran faster. Her chestnut braid bounced against the plastic turtle shell on her back marking a counterpoint to her footsteps. She barreled around the corner and skidded to a halt barely avoiding running headlong into Jake who was coming from the other direction.

"Did you see him?" Jake gasped, sucking in air like a pair of bellows.

Jodi bent over resting her hands on her knees as she caught her breath. "No! Didn't he pass you?"

Jake shook his head. "No! Where did he go?" He looked around for his bondmate. Carlos had to be somewhere in the vicinity. He might be a sneaky cat but he couldn't just disappear.

Jodi eyed Jake suspiciously, she knew that Carlos wouldn't cheat but Jake tended to have a reptile's disregard for the rules. Carlos, on the other hand, had a healthy fear of his momma who would have him on his knees doing Hail Marys till the cows came home if she caught him cheating, so that was alright. She looked around the yard. If it had been her turn she would probably have shifted out and hid in the pond. Turtles can hold their breath a really long time but cougars... not so much. She giggled to herself at the thought of the look of oh so feline disgust her playmate would have on his face at that thought. She shook her head. Nope, the pond was right out. He could be hidden under the front porch with the, she shuddered, spiders. Granted they were just Granddaddy Long Legs, but still they were icky and there was no way she was going under that porch, not to catch Carlos, not even for the warm chocolate chip cookies Miss Maria had cooling on the counter for after lunch. That left the blackberry patch with all its long thorns. She licked her lips thinking about the sun-kissed sweetness of blackberries. If she shifted before venturing in, the thorns would be no threat at all. "Jake, you check under the front porch and I'll check the berry patch." she suggested innocently.

Jake, who had no fear of spiders it would seem, nodded and loped off as ordered.

Jodi headed for the large patch of vines that ran along the fence. She moved back behind the bushes and took off her clothes laying them safely on the grass and then put her plastic shell over them to keep them from blowing away while she was shifted. A few moments later she poked her snout under the berry vines and crawled into the patch. She paused for a minute and closed her eyes in pleasure as the rich scent of ripening blackberries and freshly mowed grass caressed her nose. What was missing, however, was the scent of cougar. Carlos was not in the patch, she could tell that immediately. She debated backing out and continuing the hunt elsewhere but her tummy rumbled and the intoxicating smell of berries tempted her to stay and hunt out a few before continuing the game. Jodi crawled deeper into the patch in search of low hanging fruit. The thorny vines slid across her shell with a slight rasp that blended with the low thrum thrum thrum of the cicadas and the rustle of the cool breeze in the bushes. Overhead a chickadee called and was answered by its mate as it fussed at her intrusion. She had no intention of going after its babies so she ignored the small bird and homed in on the fat berries hanging down low enough for her to reach. All thoughts of the game faded at the tart sweetness that burst across her taste buds as she bit into the juicy fruit.  
Finishing one berry she moved on to the next and was about to take a bite when Jake pounded up.

"Jodi!" Jake bent down and peered under the vines trying to spot his playmate. "He's not under the porch. Is he in there?... Jodi?" He drew back as one baleful eye filled his vision and a purple smeared snout hissed and snapped at him. Jake yelped and fell backward on his bottom. "Hey! Be nice Jodi or I'm telling your momma! And you're supposed to be looking for Cougs, not eatin' blackberries, " he groused.

Jodi cocked her head for a moment and considered Jake's threat. Then she nodded slowly and crawled back to her clothes. Shifting she dressed again, came around and waited for Jake to join her. "Not under the porch or in the patch. Where else could he be?" It was puzzling how Carlos had disappeared so quickly. She led the way to the shade of the apple tree by the front of the house and flopped down on the soft grass to think, laid back and looked up into the canopy. She only had a second to register his presence as she stared into a pair of golden eyes peeking slyly from behind the cover of the leaves before Carlos erupted from the branch he had been perched on. He pounced on Jake with a happy squall, knocking him ass over tea kettle to the ground. The two boys rolled around and wrestled, first one then the other getting the upper hand. Jodi giggled uncontrollably at Carlos's smug smirk as they came to a stop with him sitting firmly on Jake's chest, pinning him to the lawn. She jumped up and tackled him, knocking him off his bondmate and proceeded to tickle him until Jake joined in. The wrestling match continued until all three of them were breathless with laughter.

Carlos's mom put an end to their play when she called them into lunch and then her mother came to pick her up and it was time for Jodi to go home. Jake gave her a small bucket of blackberries with a grin and Carlos who had retreated back up the apple tree waved as she left. She settled down in the back seat of the car with a happy smile and drifted off to sleep.


	3. Chapter 3

**Rain, Rain, Go Away **

Carlos flopped down in the recliner and stared out the window at the steady downpour. It had been raining for two weeks and he hadn't seen his bondmate in all that time. It was the longest they had been apart since the day they met and Carlos didn't like it one bit.

Maria found Carlos curled up in the family room morosely watching the rain, lip out in a decided pout. She hid a smile and bustled into the room. "Carlos, don't you have anything better to do than just sit here?"

The little boy shrugged, his eyes still glued to the window and Maria shook her head as she settled beside her son, shifting his body so that his head was resting in her lap. "I bet I know what's wrong," she whispered, running her fingers through his curls when only a small huff was her response. "You're missing Jake, aren't you?"

Carlos tensed, his little shoulders felt like board beneath her hands. "Stupid rain," he spat finally and Maria had to hide her grin because she was sure he wouldn't find her amusement particularly pleasing. "Yes, sometimes the weather is not as good as we would wish," she agreed, "But that is no reason to sulk. After all just because Jake is not here, it does not mean he isn't thinking about you."

"I want to see him," Carlos stressed, clearly not impressed by her logic.

Maria sighed. "When I was a little girl and we could not go outside, we would write letters to the people we wished to see," she said and Carlos cocked his head as he listened to her. "And when the weather was better we could give them all the letters we'd written and they knew that we missed them just as much as they missed us."

Carlos pulled away as he sat up, his brown eyes wide with excitement. "Did they like them?"

Maria nodded. "Yes they did and I'm sure that Jake would love a letter from you too."

Carlos pursed his lips as he mulled this over before hopping down from his seat only to return a few seconds later with a pencil and a piece of paper that he laid out on the floor. Flopping onto his stomach he stared at the blank page for a moment then he shuffled forward and gripped his pencil, his little brows furrowed in concentration.

Maria rested her head on her hands as she peered over the arm of the seat to see what he was writing. With every word her smile grew and when Carlos' tongue stuck out as he tried to complete a particularly troublesome word her fingers itched for a camera to capture the moment. As the minutes ticked pass Maria finally had to abandon Carlos' work to go and check on dinner and by the time she was finished she returned to find that the boy had fallen asleep, the letter clutched tightly in his hand. She lifted him from the floor and laid him on the sofa before glancing at the piece of paper; it wouldn't hurt to have a peek after all. Uncurling his fingers slowly she removed the letter and began to read.

'**Mama said that I can writ to you**,' Maria resisted the urge to correct the word 'write' and kept on reading. _**'**_**I do not like the rain no more becase it is stupid and I do not see you when it falls but I will miss you til it stops and when it stops we can play in the flowers again and I promise to not hide for so long.**'

Maria chuckled softly as she refolded the letter and replaced it in Carlos' hand, she could honestly say that none of her rainy day letters had been anything like this!


End file.
